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New Guy Intro

12-17-2007, 09:07 AM

Hi- My name is Gerry, I opened my shop, Wainwright Welding Service Inc. in 1974. Then, I took what ever came my way. Now I specialize in repairing parts for heavy equipment such as booms, sticks, grapple tongs and yokes, do portable align boring and honing, installation of thumbs and other new equipment modifications. I also short run manufacture some products that I developed (electric and hydraulic forklift hitches, hydraulic tub latch attachments for larger forklifts, and a machine for gluing cardboard boxes). I'm equipped to do the whole job in house. I have an Esab burn table, a CNC plasma table, heavy bending equipment, plate roll, two lathes, two radial drills, a vertical mill, a platen table, and a lot of welding equipment (mostly Miller). The only thing I'll farm out is machining work. I found out early on not to depend on other shops when there is a deadline involved. This has been a great life, and I've made a great living. But now I'm old (57), and my knees and shoulders are wore out. My wife wants me to retire, but since I built this from nothing, I'm proud of what I accomplished and can't bring myself to walk away. My advice to anybody wanting to do this kind of work is to always focus on quality. Your customer will remember the quality long after he forgets the price. If you're wondering how I have time to play on the computer, I fell from the back of a truck I was working on, and tore up my right shoulder. I'm on the shelf for 4months.

Comment

Hey, welcome to the forum. Don't throw in the towel if you are not ready to. If you do you will always regret it. I would suggest hiring someone to help you if you have not done this already. Also, start on a daily dose of glucosomine/chondroitin. That stuff works like a miracle and will really make your joints feel better. Hang Tough!

Comment

I've tried to find a young guy in this area that had some ambition/common sense that I could train to do things my way. I wanted to find someone young, before he picked up any bad habits. No luck. Older guys wanted to do things their way, and I got tired of explainging that my name was on the sign and my a$$ was on the line. Gerry

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Your right, I also believe it meant "wheel wright" or wagon maker. guess what my great granpa was ??? a wagon maker. My dad still remembers him making wheels. We still have his anvil. Wagon makers were pretty cool. Used alot of the trades in building wagons. Iron work/black smith, as well as wood work. Funny, building things and repairing things has been my destiny also. Makes you wonder if there is something in a name

Any relatives on the east coast??

Scott
HMW [Heavy Metal welding]

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If I'm not mistaken, my Grandad told me that our relatives came from somewhere in Pennsylvania. I'll bet your great grandad made a lot of trick stuff, and used a pencil and paper as his "computer". I'm starting to believe that calculators and computers are robbing people of the ability to think. After saying that, I must admit that Autocad mad me a lot smarter than I really am.

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I've tried to find a young guy in this area that had some ambition/common sense that I could train to do things my way. I wanted to find someone young, before he picked up any bad habits. No luck. Older guys wanted to do things their way, and I got tired of explainging that my name was on the sign and my a$$ was on the line. Gerry

seems like every year it gets harder and harder to find some one like that. 20 years ago when you hired a helper he wanted to be something and wanted to be good (or with luck great) at it. more and more its getting to be more about an easy $$ or get it done fast instead of right. but everything is going disposable as apposed to repairable. hang in there and keep looking, they are out there just harder to find than used to be.
sorry to hear about your fall. hope ya fell better soon.
don't close the door too soon, retirement is not all its cracked up to be. better make shore you got lots of toys in the shop out back. the wife wants ya home now but by the end of your 4 months re-cooperating she will be more than ready to get you out of the house again. i don't care how good the marriage is, ya need time apart. playing in the shop outback will keep you sain and off the couch, that thing will drive you and the wife nuts.
good to have you with us.

thanks for the help
......or..........
hope i helped
sigpic feel free to shoot me an e-mail direct i have time to chat.james@newyorkmetalart.comsummer is here, plant a tree. if you don't have space or time to plant one sponsor some one else to plant one for you. a tree is an investment in our planet, help it out.
JAMES

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If I'm not mistaken, my Grandad told me that our relatives came from somewhere in Pennsylvania. I'll bet your great grandad made a lot of trick stuff, and used a pencil and paper as his "computer". I'm starting to believe that calculators and computers are robbing people of the ability to think. After saying that, I must admit that Autocad mad me a lot smarter than I really am.

I read a story of how people who use thier palm pilot or cel phone to keep information have poor memories due to the lack of exercise... I guess it doesnt apply simply to muscle...

Comment

My idea of retiring is to disolve the corporation, drop the Ill. sales tax number, and drop the customers whose jobs have a lot of liability attached. Unfortunatly, they are the customers who spend the most money with me. I still love the work, but I'm extremely tired of the unreasonable deadlines and the heartburn I get from them. Dealing with the public is also wearing thin. Most of my customers great (because I dumped the ones who were dificult), but I'm tired of having to care about other peoples problems. I've had my head down, working hard for almost 40 years, and now it might be time to do what I want, when I want. But I intend to still be puttering around my shop 20 years from now.

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I bet you'll never stop pittiling. My father retired as a lineman after 32 years. He's now 65 and been retired 10 yrs. He also has had a small equipment repair shop for like 40 yrs. So he stays busy. seems people who work with their hands never really quit, just do what they want when they want. he takes in jobs he wants to do and quits when he wants. No shop hours...ha ha ha If the doors are open, he's open.

I only live about 2-1/2hrs south of PA, on the Eastern shore of maryland.